Plan for silent alarms in N.J. schools vetoed by Christie

Gov. Chris Christie has vetoed a bill that would have required all public schools in New Jersey to be equipped with a silent alarm linked directly to local police.

In his veto message, Christie said the measure does not adequately address what he called all relevant and important concerns surrounding school safety.

But that, said the bill’s primary sponsor, Assemblyman Ralph Caputo, misses the point.

“Well, the intent was not to satisfy all concerns. In fact, every school district in the state is updating their security plans. This is only part of the solution,” said Caputo, D-Essex. “This was a recommendation that came from local police organizations that saw this as a reasonable way for them to get to the scene in a very, very quick response time.”

Caputo, who said he rejects the governor’s suggestion to send the measure to the School Security Task Force for more study, said he intends to introduce the measure again.

“I’m not going to send it back for more study,” he said Wednesday. “I’m going to reintroduce it, and hopefully we can find out what the real reasons are why this bill was vetoed.”